FORT WORTH, Texas – Senior Manny Wilkins has been tabbed as one of 26 student-athletes to be named to the 2018 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List announced by the Davey O'Brien Foundation Tuesday morning.
The Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award is presented annually to the nation's best college quarterback and is the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award. Appearing on the watch list is not a requirement for a player to win the award. Quarterbacks from all 130 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools are eligible. The announcement comes on the heels of Wilkins being named to the Maxwell Award Watch List on Monday morning.
Wilkins, a Novato, Calif., native enters his third season as the Sun Devil's starting quarterback with a lot of momentum following a productive 2017 campaign that saw the senior complete 260-of-410 (63.4%) passes for 3,270 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Starting all 13 games under center for the Sun Devils in 2017, Wilkins recorded four 300-yard and nine 200-yard performances that included 282 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground. Wilkins' arm was equally as impressive as he was able to throw for over 3,000-passing yards, marking just the ninth time in the history of Sun Devil Football a player was able to accomplish the feat. His 3,270 passing yards on the season were good for fifth in ASU single season history and are the ninth-highest among returning quarterbacks in 2018.
He was sixth nationally with a 122.3 NFL quarterback rating on deep passes last season, according to Pro Football Focus and completed a Pac-12-leading 14 passes of 40 or more yards. Wilkins also posted a 72.4 adjusted completion percentage according to PFF, fourth among returning Pac-12 quarterbacks and 34thnationally last season.
Wilkins has 5,599 passing yards in his career, good for 10th among all quarterbacks in ASU history. His 12 career rushing touchdowns are fourth among quarterbacks in ASU history behind Mark Malone (21), Danny White (14) and Taylor Kelly (13).
Compiled by a subset of the Davey O'Brien National Selection Committee, this year's list was selected based on player performance during the previous year and expectations heading into the 2018 college football season. All nominees are required to have previously started at least one game at their current institution. In addition, any player who was a finalist or semifinalist the previous year is automatically included.
As a conference, the Pac-12 is well represented in this season's watch list with Jake Browning (Wash), Khalil Tate (Ariz) and Justin Herbert (Oregon) all joining Wilkins as preseason contenders to win the honor.
Sixteen semifinalists for the award will be named on Tuesday, Nov. 6. From that list, the Foundation will announce the three finalists on Monday, Nov. 19. The 2018 Davey O'Brien Award winner will be unveiled live Thursday, Dec. 6, during The Home Depot College Football Awards.
The 2018 season marks the 12th year that fans will be invited to participate in the voting process on VoteOBrien.org. Results from the Davey O'Brien fan vote will be combined with the ballots from the selection committee. Fan voting, which accounts for five percent of the total balloting, will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 4.
The Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award is presented annually to the nation's best college quarterback and is the oldest and most prestigious national quarterback award. Appearing on the watch list is not a requirement for a player to win the award. Quarterbacks from all 130 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools are eligible. The announcement comes on the heels of Wilkins being named to the Maxwell Award Watch List on Monday morning.
Wilkins, a Novato, Calif., native enters his third season as the Sun Devil's starting quarterback with a lot of momentum following a productive 2017 campaign that saw the senior complete 260-of-410 (63.4%) passes for 3,270 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Starting all 13 games under center for the Sun Devils in 2017, Wilkins recorded four 300-yard and nine 200-yard performances that included 282 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on the ground. Wilkins' arm was equally as impressive as he was able to throw for over 3,000-passing yards, marking just the ninth time in the history of Sun Devil Football a player was able to accomplish the feat. His 3,270 passing yards on the season were good for fifth in ASU single season history and are the ninth-highest among returning quarterbacks in 2018.
He was sixth nationally with a 122.3 NFL quarterback rating on deep passes last season, according to Pro Football Focus and completed a Pac-12-leading 14 passes of 40 or more yards. Wilkins also posted a 72.4 adjusted completion percentage according to PFF, fourth among returning Pac-12 quarterbacks and 34thnationally last season.
Wilkins has 5,599 passing yards in his career, good for 10th among all quarterbacks in ASU history. His 12 career rushing touchdowns are fourth among quarterbacks in ASU history behind Mark Malone (21), Danny White (14) and Taylor Kelly (13).
Compiled by a subset of the Davey O'Brien National Selection Committee, this year's list was selected based on player performance during the previous year and expectations heading into the 2018 college football season. All nominees are required to have previously started at least one game at their current institution. In addition, any player who was a finalist or semifinalist the previous year is automatically included.
As a conference, the Pac-12 is well represented in this season's watch list with Jake Browning (Wash), Khalil Tate (Ariz) and Justin Herbert (Oregon) all joining Wilkins as preseason contenders to win the honor.
Sixteen semifinalists for the award will be named on Tuesday, Nov. 6. From that list, the Foundation will announce the three finalists on Monday, Nov. 19. The 2018 Davey O'Brien Award winner will be unveiled live Thursday, Dec. 6, during The Home Depot College Football Awards.
The 2018 season marks the 12th year that fans will be invited to participate in the voting process on VoteOBrien.org. Results from the Davey O'Brien fan vote will be combined with the ballots from the selection committee. Fan voting, which accounts for five percent of the total balloting, will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 4.